Shadow: The other side
by Shewhoisawesome
Summary: Shadow is a ruthless killer. Robin a brave hero. Completely different right? Wrong. The team and the league are about to learn that everything isn't as black and white as they first thought. And the question they ask may not have the answer they wanted.Who is Shadow? Rated T for blood, murder and AUTHOR SWEARING AT HERSELF IN CH4. Won't be that bad though. Set after season 1
1. Prologue

**Hey!**

**So this is my first YJ fic! I hope you guys like it! :D  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice... poo...  
**

* * *

Robin isn't the person we all thought he was... There's a much darker side to his past that no one knew about.

Not even Batman.

_Three tortured souls._

_Three lost families._

_Three children looking for revenge._

_A Scar._

_A Blade._

_A Shadow._

They rule Gotham's gangs with an iron fist. Killing those who get in the way.

Or just those who deserve it.

_Batman_ can't stop them.

_The Team_ can't stop them.

_The league_ can't stop them.

_They can't stop themselves._

Blade will slit your throat.

Scar will take your left eye.

Shadow will chop off your head.

_**You think you know Robin?**_

_**Think again.**_

* * *

**AN) I admit this is rather short but it is a prologue so it's supposed to be like that.  
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**Tell me what you think! Should I continue? Or should I sack it... Hopefully the first one :)  
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**Oh, and in case you think I'm using an overused plot, I am happy to say I have never read anything like what I am about to write! Yay!  
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**PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! **

**Yay! I've managed to update again on the same day!  
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**Thank you to the two people who have reviewed, your comments are much appreciated :)  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own YJ...that sucks for me...  
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* * *

The team was lounged in the sitting room of the cave, Conner watching the static, Megan cooking...something, Kaldur and Artemis reading, and Robin on his laptop. Peaceful. Until Wally came speeding in, throwing himself down on the sofa with a loud groan.

"I'm bored! When are we going to get another mission!?"

"Well, Baywatch, maybe if you tried actually _doing_ something instead of running around like an idiot you wouldn't be."

Artemis scowled over the top of her book at the offending speedster.

"Hey Rob! Whatcha doing?" Wally asked loudly, completely ignoring Artemis in favor of peering over the bird's shoulder.

He was met with the sight of a map of Gotham with red and blue dots in certain areas. Robin also seemed to be having a conversation with someone but Wally couldn't read it as it was in another language.

"Um...What's that?" He asked, watching as Robin typed something to who ever he was talking to and start moving the red dots around.

"Just a...project I've been working on..." Robin said offhandedly, his focus entirely on the screen in front of him.

"Oh...Okay."

"_Team, report to the mission room."_

Wally whooped and yelled "Finally!" Which led Artemis to snap something about being patient... and thus another argument began...

They walked into the debriefing room to where Batman was stood in front of a large holographic screen. Once they had assembled themselves and Artemis and Wally had stopped arguing he started.

"Gang crime in Gotham is ruled over by one person. Shadow. He and his lieutenants, Blade and Scar, dictate which gangs are allowed in what areas and what they can do. If someone does something they don't like. They kill them."

"Is it wise to have such people deciding these things?" Kaldur asked, uncertainly.

"There's nothing we can do about it. None of them have ever been caught, and the gang leaders don't know anything about them. Shadow has never even been seen."

"What do you want us to do about it? Isn't Gotham your territory?" Wally asked, while taking a large bite out of his energy bar.

"It is, however, recently they have started moving to other cities and are gaining more influence. One of the mob bosses in Bludhaven is their next target. Your mission is to stop them from killing him."

"How are we supposed to do that? If they've never been caught then they must be good, plus why are we saving a mob boss?" Artemis narrowed her eyes at Batman, crossing her arms and sticking her hip out to the side.

"This particular mob boss, Lorenzo De Luca, is the key to taking down a large drug ring and to do that we need him alive."

"Forgive me Batman, but I agree with Artemis, how are we going to stop them?" Aqualad glanced at Artemis who looked rather smug with herself.

Batman turned to the computer and pulled up three files. Two had pictures of the person's face, slightly blurred as the people were fighting and the third had none.

Batman selected the first file.

It showed a boy of about 16 with shaggy black hair with a burglar style mask tied over his black eyes.

"Blade. Between the ages of 15 and 18. He is a very skilled knife fighter and has a large array of knifes, from pen-knifes to throwing blades. He is a close to medium range fighter so distance is key. His preferred way of killing is to slit either the throat or wrists. "

Batman selected the next file.

This one showed a girl about the same age as Blade. She didn't wear a mask but you couldn't see her face as she hid the left side behind a curtain of black hair and the rest was painted stark white with a black smug around her eye.

"Scar. Within the same age range as Blade. She uses a metal bow staff with sharpened ends, like a javelin. If that is unavailable she uses two hunting knifes. She is a close range fighter so distance is also key. Her preferred method of killing is to stab her victim through the left eye or the left side of the chest."

Megan felt sick at the thought that someone her 'age' had turned out like that. She wondered what could make such a young person do things like that. She didn't realize she'd said that out loud until Robin answered.

"Lot's of stuff... She comes from Gotham so probably either the lose of her family or she's been exposed to the crazies for too long..." Robin trailed off and narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking of all those sick villains out there, killing innocent people...

Megan looked like she was about to cry so Conner quickly turned the attention away from her.

"What about Shadow?"

Batman pulled up the final file.

This file's picture was a blurred black mess with a person-ish shaped blob to the right.

"No one except Blade and Scar have seen Shadow and lived. We assume he is in the same age range as them. He uses katana style sword and black throwing stars. His preferred method of killing is to either cut of the head or limbs of his victims. It is unlikely he will be there."

_Yeah_, Robin thought, _**very** unlikely._

All three are extremely dangerous. Your mission is to stop the killing of Lorenzo De Luca; you are not to engage with them more than needed and you are _not _trying to capture them. If they leave, let them go. _Is that clear."_

"Yes Batman. We will depart immediately." With that Aqualad led the team to the Bio-ship, leaving Batman standing in the mission room with narrowed eyes.

The flight was uneventful; everyone was mentally preparing themselves for their meeting with the rulers of the Gotham underworld...

They landed on a roof two blocks **(AN) Blocks? I think... oh well, whatever) **away from where De Luca lived.

"Miss Martian, link us up."

"_Everyone online?"_

"_I am here"_

"_Same here beautiful"_

"_Urg. Shut up Baywatch"_

"_Yes"_

"_Yep! Now come on! We need to get there before they do!"_

"_Agreed. We will go in pairs. They are skilled in close combat so we need a balance._

_Artemis and Kid Flash_

_Miss Martian and Superboy_

_Myself and Robin."_

"_What!?" _Wally and Artemis shrieked at the same time,

"_Artemis is the long range cover and Kid Flash the close range fighter. We will not debate this any more."_

Artemis glared at Kid Flash, then at Aqualad before deflating.

"_Fine."_

"_Great. Can we go now?" _Robin pulled out his grappling hook and looked to the others expectantly.

"_Let's go."_

* * *

**AN) So? How was that? Good? So bad you wanted to kill me through the computer? **_  
_

**Please Review! I love hearing what you guys think! I makes me happy and you will get better chapters more often (bribe, bribe) :D  
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	3. Chapter 2

**Hey Guys!**

**I have attempted a longer chapter! Yay for more!**

**Thank you to all who have reviewed! You guys rock! :D**

**Read!**

**Disclaimer: I do not on YJ... If I did this would happen :)**

_This is speaking through the mind link..._**  
**

* * *

"_This is getting boring!"_

"_We've been waiting for twenty minutes Baywatch! You can't seriously be this impatient!"_

"_Stop it. Both of you. We need to be pay-"_

"_There!" _Robin sprung from his hiding place in pursuit of the shadow he'd seen.

A loud crashing sound was heard from Miss Martian and Superboy's side of the building.

"_Miss Martian, report." _

"_Someone broke the window to De Luca's kitchen, Superboy and I are in pursuit."_

"_Robin and I are in pursuit of someone as well. All of you, rendezvous in the study where De Luca is."_

They all burst into the office at the same time.

De Luca was on the floor, but alive at least. Standing over him was Blade and Scar, her javelin posed over Lorenzo's left eye.

"Look at that sis, we've got company." Blade grinned, throwing the knife in his hand up into the air and catching it.

"Hmmm, the sidekick squad..." Scar's eye darted over to Robin before she continued, "it's a pity S isn't here. He'd have enjoyed meeting you."

"Yeah, well too bad. We're not going to let you kill that guy." Artemis stepped forward, bow loaded and raised.

"They think they can stop us? You sidekicks are _very _ambitious, aren't you." Scar drawled, twirling her javelin like a baton around her fingers, her white face only making her black-lipped smirk stand out more.

"We're not sidekicks." Superboy ground out, clenching his fists when Blade chuckled.

"What are you then? Copies? The back up plan?"

"Enough. You will both leave here now, before we make you." Aqualad took up a fighting stance and formed his water bearers into swords. The rest of the team followed his lead.

"Hmmm... We'd love to hang around but S isn't going to like it if we don't finish the job... although it is partly his fault," Blade smirked at Robin who, not that the team could tell, rolled his eyes.

"Ha! You're just to scared to fight us!" Cried Kid Flash, striking up a heroic pose and winking at Miss Martian.

"Scared? No. Why not? S isn't going to do anything to us until later... so..." Blade caught the knife he'd been playing with by the blade and inspected it for a moment,

"Bring it on."

The knife hit Aqualad in the shoulder and two more followed only to be stopped just barely by his arm, when the team looked again the two teens were gone.

Artemis shrieked as she rolled out of the way of Scar, who had dropped from the ceiling. Scar smirked, stabbing at the archer with her javelin.

"Get away from her!" Kid Flash yelled as he speed towards the girl, hoping to knock the weapon from her hands.

Instead Scar ducked and rolled, her javelin tucked against her stomach but stuck out to one side so it tripped Kid Flash.

She sprang up, swinging her weapon in a large arc behind her to block Aqualad's swords, before twisting round to meet him head on.

Meanwhile, Blade was relentlessly attacking Miss Martian, slashing at her with two pocket knifes. She used her mind to stop him as she desperately flew higher to try and get away from the blades.

Superboy was trying to catch the attacker but he failed as somehow, while jumping to attack Megan Blade was managing to angle his body in such a way that he would miss Conner's hands by inches.

Blade landed on Superboy's back and used it as a springboard to flip away from the two aliens, landing in a couch. As he landed he sent out five throwing knifes towards Miss Martian, she stopped them but she didn't see Scar run up behind her.

Scar swung her javelin like a baseball bat and hit Megan out of the air and through the wall to the wonderful world of unconsciousness.

"M'gann!" Superboy cried before screaming and charging at Scar.

"Did I do that? Whoops!" She laughed sarcastically from next to Blade, before flipping away as Conner came at her. Blade smirked but had to stumble back to avoid being fallen on by Robin. The bird had decided to join in.

They started fighting.

Neither could land a hit but Blade finally looked like he was concentrating, even if he was still smiling slightly.

The others came out of their temporary shock and began to help.

Artemis shot at Scar while Kaldur attempted to hit her and Kid Flash and Robin teamed up to take out Blade.

It was a long fight but none had managed to hit Blade or Scar. Only Robin came remotely close.

Finally Scar and Blade ended up next to each other.

"Well this has been fun but we should get going... Toodles!" And with that they leapt out the window and disappeared across the rooftops.

"I can still-"

"No. Batman told us not to pursue them. Our main objective is making sure Miss Martian and De Luca are all right.

Conner and Kaldur dug Megan from the rumble of the wall while Robin and the others checked on De Luca.

He was lying flat out were they had seen him at the start of the fight.

"Is he dead?" Asked Kid Flash peering at the Mob boss' face.

"No, he's just passed out from shock and fear." Robin told him; before he heaved the large man over one shoulder and dumped him in the sitting room opposite.

"How's Miss M?" He asked walking over to Kaldur who was checking on their green friend.

"I believe she will be alright, she's just unconscious. Look she's coming round."

Megan groaned and put a hand to her head before opening her eyes and looking around.

"What happened?" She mumbled, as Conner helped her sit up.

"Scar hit you through a wall." Artemis said blankly, looking quite irritated.

"Oh." Megan said sadly.

Conner seemed to pick up on her feelings.

"It wasn't your fault. They were good."

"Agreed. We underestimated their fighting ability. We cannot dwell on that though; right know we need to report back to Batman. Are you still able to pilot the Bio-ship?"

"I think so..."

The team silently made their way back to the ship. Each contemplating what had just happened.

* * *

"I still don't get it."

The team, minus Robin was sat in the sitting room. They looked to Artemis questionably.

"When we were fighting. They had lots of opportunities to kill us but they didn't. Is it just me or were they holding back?"

"Maybe... Or perhaps they didn't kill us, as it wasn't in their orders to? They do work for Shadow." Kaldur pointed out, looking up from his book.

"Maybe... But I don't think so..."

Artemis got up, leaving the rest of the team to their musings.

* * *

"You didn't kill him."

"Yeah, but we got distracted! And that was your fault!"

"How?"

"It's your team."

"You still could've killed him in the fight. Yet you didn't."

"Calm down! We can get him later, can't we?"

"We have standards to keep up! I don't know if you realize this but we have a reputation. We don't fail. If any of the gangs get wind of this they could start thinking we're not as good as they think we are. That means them trying to take over. And frankly, if that happens we're not going to have any gangs left at the end of it!"

"Woah man, chill. We can get him now."

"No. _I'll_ get him now. You two will stay here and organize all the plans we're getting in. You _won't _come after me or try and do anything else. Is that clear?"

It was more of a statement than a question.

"Crystal."

"Good. I'll be back later."

Shadow ran across the rooftops, towards Lorenzo De Luca.

Killing him was fun. He bragged about beating up Scar and Blade until Shadow told him that he knew he passed out from fear. After that it was a typical job; lots of begging and trying to bargain. Shadow decided to shut him up and cut of his head.

As the body hit the floor he heard a familiar swoosh of cloth.

_Batman._

Shadow quickly slipped into hiding.

Batman entered the room quietly, taking in the single circle of light from the desk lamp and the body on the floor.

He bent to examine the corpse and Shadow grinned as he saw him wrinkle his nose in disgust.

"Can't take it, Bats?"

Batman straightened up.

"Shadow."

"Oh so you know who I am? That's good..."

"Why kill him?"

"He was irritating me. The dogs can do drugs as much as they like but some of my uppers were starting to do it. He had to go."

"Dogs, uppers?"

"Dogs are typical gang members. The muscle, if you like. Uppers are the leaders and their right hands. The brains, well as much brain as a Gotham thug can have."

"I see... But the police were planning to take down the drug ring them selves."

"I like to handle things personally."

"But you sent your lieutenants to kill him."

"I was busy."

"And they failed."

"Yes, but that doesn't matter anymore. However, I must say, I expected your team to put up less of a fight... I was mildly impressed..."

"What were you busy with?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Who are you?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." Shadow snorted. "Besides, you're the detective... Figure it out."

And he was gone.

Batman frowned. Although some sort of mask muffled his voice, it sounded younger than he had first thought... It also sounded quite familiar...

Batman was impressed that Shadow had managed to hide from him so well; he supposed Shadow was a very appropriate name.

Batman phoned the police and left, madly trying to answer the question.

Who is Shadow?

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**AN)** **We've had our first glimpse of Shadow... What do you think? **

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	4. Chapter 3

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**So... Another long chapter! Yay!  
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**Thanks for all the reviews!  
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**Okay, I apologize in advance if any of the new people featured in this chapter are OOC, they need to be that way for the story...  
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**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own YJ...  
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* * *

Artemis glared at her laptop.

She was sat cross-legged on her bed in her room at the mountain, looking for more information on Shadow, Blade and Scar in the Justice Leagues database.

So far, nothing…

Everything the league knew about them was in the files Batman had shown them. Nothing else.

She sighed as she read through Shadow's file again, but then something caught her eye...

The age range had changed from 15 - 18 to 13 - 16...

But how would Batman know that... He couldn't unless..._he'd met Shadow._

So, Shadow wasn't as old as they first thought, definitely not older than Blade and Scar... So why was he in charge?

_Kid must be pretty scary I suppose..._

Artemis sighed again... This was ridiculous! It was hard imagining someone her age running the Gotham gangs, but someone who could potentially be Robin's age? It just didn't seem possible...

But it was. And that frustrated Artemis. She wanted to know _who this kid was. _ And luckily for her, Artemis had good connections to certain criminals.

She smiled. _This will teach them not to mess with us._

* * *

Shadow, Blade and Scar were lounged in their flat, going over plans for robberies and killings like they usually did.

Blade and Scar had shared a flat ever since they broke away from their older brother, Grim.

He wasn't really their brother as none of the four were related, but they had come to think of him that way since he had taken the two in after they first came to Gotham.

Admittedly, he wasn't the best brother. He'd often gotten too caught up in gang stuff to care for them properly, but he'd been there. He'd been there when they needed a friend. He'd trained them to survive, to hold their own against the thugs in his gang. Soon they were Blade and Scar, already this generals and killing at the ages of 12 and 13.

They both remembered when Shadow had started gaining more influence, starting to build his empire and challenging everything their brother did. They remembered hating him, wanting to end him so things could go back to the way they used to be.

Then they'd met him.

They'd shown up to support Grim in his fight. The whole gang had come.

Shadow had come alone.

He'd looked so ridiculous. A tiny nine year-old, dressed in black with a black sword that seemed slightly to big, black fabric covering his mouth.

Then they'd fought.

Before their brother had been the best fighter, the person they looked up to. Untouchable.

But now he'd been beaten by Shadow the two became worried about what would happen to them, as surely Shadow would kill Grim.

But he didn't.

He'd helped him up and told him he wasn't half bad, then suggested that they worked together. He became their little brother who could beat them up and was messed up in the head. Life was perfect.

They'd gradually grown apart from Grim, he was still there but they started following Shadow's orders instead of his. He realized this and left, something about going to exotic places and killing people. Like the army, apparently, but without the marching...

Shadow had bought the flat and they'd lived happily until Bruce took him in. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to visit his siblings.

Shadow's phone buzzed.

"Urg!" He moaned slumping down on the sofa.

"What is it, Dick?" Zoe asked, looking up from the bank robbery she was organizing.

"It's Bruce. He wants to know where I am."

"What's so bad about that? Tell him." Jake said, raising his eyebrow at how dramatic Dick was being.

"Oh yeah, sure.

_Hey Bruce!_

_I'm hanging out with my psychotic honorary siblings; we're just chilling and running our empire of gangs!_

_Got to go. I need to go kill someone._

_See you at dinner!"_

"Psychotic? Says the boy who practically has three split personalities..."

"That's not exactly my fault... I've got to go though..." Dick sighed. "This is all getting so stressful! I need some time away from Robin and Dick Grayson... But how?"

"Run away?"

"Psh, yeah. I'm totally going to run away from the entire Justice League and Co. Smart move."

"What?! I was just saying! yeesh..."

"Shut up Jake. I'm thinking."

Dick paced for about five minutes before whirling round and pointing to Zoe.

"You need to talk to Catwoman for me."

"Catwoman? What makes you think I know her?"

"Oh please, I know she's practically the thieving mother you never had."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. You are psychic."

"No, I just happen to have a complex relationship with her and I heard her bragging to Bats about your little chats..."

"I hate you."

"Whatever. Anyway, I need you to ask her to get someone to kidnap Robin."

"Why can't she do it?"

"Because her and Bats are way to close."

"Okay... but what happens when you get kidnapped?"

"They give me to Catwoman, who gives me to you."

"Are you sure that will work?"

"Of course! They're not going to do anything serious to me, it'll be fine."

"Urg… Okay... I'll talk to her tonight."

"Awesome! And in the mean time I want that heist organized and that gang whipped into shape. Clear?"

"Clear."

* * *

Scar landed on the roof of Selina Kyle's flat at midnight and it wasn't long till the in-famous thief herself had joined her.

"Scar! What are you doing here?" She purred, moving forward to hug the girl.

"Business."

"Oh? And what sort of business are we talking about?"

"I need you to organize the kidnapping of Robin."

"Birdie? Why?"

"Don't ask me, bosses orders."

"Ah. The mysterious Shadow... And what do you want me to do, exactly?"

"Get someone else to kidnap him and then give him to you, then you give him to me."

"And why does Shadow want Robin?"

"The Bat has been messing in our affairs. We're warning him off."

"And what will you do with him?"

"We'll look after him. We're not going to hurt him in any way; he'll just have to stay inside. We'll let him train and do whatever he likes, except contact others or escape of course."

"But why go to all the trouble of having me get someone else to do it for you?"

"It'll be a nice goose chase for dear Mr. Batman, but you can't tell him. You can give him subtle clues and such but that's it."

"Hmmmm... Okay, I'll get Harley and Ivy to do it. Harley just had another fight with the Joker; I don't know what she sees in him... Anyway, I'll see you soon then, and don't worry. Batman won't have a clue."

Catwoman smirked and turned to go before she stopped, turning back round with a smile on her face.

"But why leave it there? You look tense, dear. Come on, there's a couple of nice diamonds that I've had my eye on for a while..." She held her hand out to the girl and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Scar smiled and took the offered hand.

"Sure."

As the two females took off, Shadow smiled. Everything was working...

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Artemis stood on top of the roof. Waiting.

She nearly jumped when a voice came from the shadows.

"Artemis? What are you doing here?"

"Jade." Artemis nodded her head at her older sister, who slipped out of the darkness before standing in front of her sister with her hands on her hips.

"Well? I doubt you came for a chat..."

"What do you know about Shadow?"

"Oh? You've finally run into him have you?"

"Not him. His lieutenants, Blade and Scar."

"I see... And, I assume they beat you up?"

"What do you know about them?"

"Too little... The shadows have tried to recruit them but they failed..."

"You were there, weren't you?"

_**-Flashback!-Pretend there's harp music and the screen is waving- Just pretend!-**  
_

_It was midnight when they landed on the roof. Her Black Spider and Hook. Not the ideal team but she'd learnt to deal with idiots._

"_We attack that gang down there and Shadow is sure to come..."_

"_Whatever, let's just get this over and done with."_

_They'd taken out the gang, killing a few but mostly knocking them unconscious. _

_That's when they appeared._

"_Your boss should know better than to mess with us..." _

_The voice came from the shadows, moving so that you couldn't quite tell where it was coming from._

"_We're not here to fight"_

"_Could've fooled us..."_

"_We have... a proposition for you."_

"_Really? Let me guess... Join the shadows and let you take over Shadow's empire and in return we get rubbish living space and people telling us what to do... Yeah, no thanks."_

"_It's not wise to refuse us."_

"_It's not wise to mess with our gangs."_

_She turned in a circle, weapons raised. Looking for the troublesome teens in the darkness. Hook and Spider followed her lead._

_Then there was a muffled cry._

_A knife had buried itself up to the hilt in Spider's shoulder, he groaned and sank to his knees before falling to the floor._

"_Do you like the new toxin we've been working on? It knocks you out for 24 hours and gives you a bad case of the flu when you wake up..."_

_Scar stepped out of the shadows, twirling her javelin and looking quite smug. _

"_We're giving it a test run... So… You might not want to get hit."_

_They fought._

_She was vaguely aware of Blade attacking Hook but she was more concerned with the girl attacking her. _

_Scar was like a whirlwind, twirling, spinning and twisting through the air in a dance around her. Not trying to hit her and lazily blocking all of her hits. Taunting her._

_She heard Hook go down, and watched as Blade and Scar flipped away from her, to stand next to each other, both with knowing smiles on their faces._

"_Tut, tut, Cheshire...Looks like you're not as good as you thought..."_

_This new voice echoed from all around, seeming to come from all the shadows around her._

"_Pathetic."_

_She felt a sharp pain in her side and looked down to see a black throwing star embedded in her abdomen. She gasped and fell to her knees, the toxin burning through her body. Soon the world began to turn black. But, just before she passed out she saw three blurry figures walking towards her..._

_**-End of Flashback!- Pretend there's more harp music and the screen is waving again-Just Pretend!-**  
_

"No."

Artemis looked at her in a way that said 'I don't believe you."

"Well this was a wasted trip." Artemis turned to go.

"Wait! Artemis, you don't what to mess with these people… Trust me."

"You _were_ there."

"Yes, and they're good, very good. They don't do mercy. The only reason I'm still here is because they wanted to make an example of us... They're dangerous."

"I'll keep that in mind..."

The sisters left the roof.

* * *

_A few days later._

"Team, report to the briefing room."

Once the team was stood in front of Batman, Wally noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Robin?"

"Robin was kidnapped last night. Now, your mission is-"

"Wait,what?!Hegotkidnapped?Bywho?Arewegoingtogogethim?When?Where?How?Whyaren'tyoulookingforhim?"

"Kid Flash. Enough. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy kidnapped Robin last night on patrol. We are looking for him, and no, you won't be looking for him."

"What is our mission then?" Kaldur asked.

"Gang crime in Star City is becoming more active. Your mission is to find out if Shadow is involved. If Scar and Blade show up again you do _not _engage unless necessary. Is that clear?

"Yes Batman."

"You leave in an hour."

* * *

"Here's Birdie"

Robin was tied up and unconscious. Scar almost laughed, but she knew that _somehow _her little brother would find out and kill her later so she held it in.

"Thanks... No problems?"

"Ivy was a tad suspicious but nothing I couldn't handle..."

Catwoman turned to go, but frowned and looked back at the boy slung over Scar's shoulder.

"Take care of him."

Scar smiled softly.

"Sure."

And they were gone.

* * *

**AN) And the plot thickens...**

**Are you guys excited for the rest? You should be... }:{)  
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**


	5. Chapter 4

**OH MY GOD HOW COULD I DO THIS TO YOU! I LEFT YOU HANGING FOR _AGES! I SOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! _AND THE ****WORST PART IS THAT I DON'T EVEN HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE! *SOBS***

**_WARNING: HERE IS WHERE THE AUTHOR SWEARS AT HERSELF FOR BEING LAZY._  
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_Fuck you SWIA. How the fuck did you manage to be so retarded that you couldn't even update for 3 fucking months! What the hell is wrong thing you! You'd better not pull this kind of shit on your readers again, or you will be fucking mauled. BY YOURSELF. _

**Swearing over. I'm sorry. But you guys needed to see how much I'm beating myself up over this...**

**Anywho, ONTO THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own YJ**

* * *

The ride to Star City was awkward to say the least.

Wally was jittering about in his seat, scowling out the window **(AN: Does the Bioship even **_**have **_**windows?...)** while rapidly drumming his fingers on the panel in front of him.

The team was, naturally, worried and were communicating through the mind link while sending worried glances in the speedster's direction.

'_I'm worried about him...'_

'_He is worried about Robin, I to am concerned, but this is affecting him badly.' _

'_Baywatch'll get over it. Robin will be fine.'_

'_Batman didn't seem worried. Why should we be?'_

'_Robin could be hurt! And they are best friends...'_

'_I am sure Robin will be alright. And even if he is not, we cannot let it affect how we work as a team.'_

"You guys don't think I know when you're all chatting behind my back?"

The harsh tone of Wally's voice made the team jump, dropping the mind link.

"My apologies, we are simply worried. This behavior is not like you." Kaldur let the silent _'What's wrong' _hang in the air for a moment.

"I'm fine."

Artemis raised a haughty eyebrow and folded her arms. "No. You're not."

"I'm fine! Really!"

"Wally, we understand that you're upset about Robin's capture, and so are we! But you need to talk to us." Megan tried to sooth the erratic redhead.

"I'm fine."

"Very well, but please, do not let this affect your performance in the field, we need to be focused in case we encounter Blade and Scar again."

"Yeah, come on Baywatch. This is _Robin _we're talking about. He'll be fine.

* * *

Wally really wasn't fine.

He knew the team had noticed. Because, really. This angst moment he was having really wasn't him, but he couldn't help it.

He was so worried it _hurt. _He knew his best friend was probably fine and laughing it up at the idiots that caught him, but still.

Wally still remembered that time when he was 13, and Robin 11, when Joker had kidnapped the bird. _Oh god_ that had been horrible. Waiting for hours in the Batcave, only to see Batman return with a battered Robin. He'd been so _pale._ Paler than usual, his clothes and hair smeared with blood and sweat. Horrible gashes and carvings covering his torso, along with a broken leg, ribs and a damaged stomach from the clown's crowbar.

He'd been stuck in the med-bay for weeks. Laughing at Wally's worry, insisting that it wasn't that bad. But it was. Wally wasn't stupid, he'd seen the haunted look in his best friend's eyes, the way he flinched at the mention of the clown who'd got him for weeks after he was healed.

Wally's brain told him Robin would be fine.

But his gut told him he would be anything but.

* * *

Loud obnoxious laughter rung in the warehouse as thirty large men ridiculed the teens in front of them.

When the leader had finally stopped he chuckled and leered over the two.

"And what makes you think we're gonna do what you say, eh? You're just a coupl-a kids! And this 'Shadow' must be a wimp if 'e's not even gonna show 'is face!"

Scar raised a delicate eyebrow. This man was an idiot.

"We're being very serious, Shadow wants control. In return, you get better planning and a better chance at not being caught by Robin Hood or whoever runs about this dump."

Blade smirked at the look on the leader's face. He didn't like this guy at all.

"And as for Shadow. He's here. Watching. And he's not going to be very happy."

The leader just snorted again. "Not happening kiddies. But..."

He loomed even more over Scar; a creepy grin making it's way onto his face. "You're lovely aren't you? Why don't you came back to my place and we can... _negotiate_"

Scar's face stayed blank. "Pedo."

Before the guy could even blink a metal javelin and been thrust through his left eye, though his brain and out the back of his head.

Scar pulled her weapon out of the leader and twirled it, splattering blood on the walls and members of the gang. Blade grinned evilly.

"Who's next?"

Blade and Scar launched themselves at the gang, the surprise and speed of their attacks giving them the upper hand for a moment, enough time to kill a man each and get onto the next one before the other's realized what was happening and started pulling out weapons of their own.

About half way through the fight, a small black shape dropped from the ceiling, weapon cutting the poor man he'd fallen on clean in half.

"'Bout time, S." Blade grunted, slitting the throat of his victim, before springing out the way of a baseball bat and impaling the wielder with another well-placed knife to the neck.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun." His brother teased as he hacked another limb off, spinning through the air to lob off someone else's head.

"You two are idiots." Growled Scar as she rammed her javelin home into yet another eye socket.

"Love you to!" Was the simultaneous answer she got.

A further five minutes would find the warehouse covered blood, bodies and limbs, three teenagers stood in the middle with blood stained weapons but not a speck on them.

Even though black fabric covered his mouth and nose, the elder two knew Shadow was grinning like a madman. The black contacts he wore making the effect kind of creepy.

"Well that was fun!" He chirped, wiping the blood off his Katana on one of the dead men's shirts.

"Come on! We need to make our mark so the other gangs know exactly who did this."

Blade rolled his eyes, "like they couldn't guess."

Scar looked at him incredulously, "gangs don't have brains, Blade. Like you."

Before he could retaliate there was a sudden hiss of, "hide!" Before the warehouse was plunged into darkness and the footsteps on the roof became clear.

* * *

The team dropped down in front of the warehouse entrance, taking in the dark windows and lack of sound.

'_Superboy, is anyone inside?'_

Superboy frowned slightly as he used his thermal vision to scan the building. He frowned even more when he was done.

'_I'm getting two definite people, but the rest are looking really weird, they're to cold...'_

The team exchanged looks before making their way inside.

'_Kid Flash, find the lights.'_

'_On it.'_

He sped off, slipping slightly on unknown substances as he ran round the perimeter of the building, searching for the light switch. He ended up smashing into it head first when he skidded on the unknown substance again.

'_Ow. There's something on...the...floor...'_

Turning round after finding the lights was probably one of the biggest mistakes Wally had ever made.

The warehouse was a bombsite.

Blood was everywhere. Limbs and heads that had been cut off were strewn about the place, their owners carcasses lying in pain not to far away. Small sections of brain lay near those who had met Scar and the unseeing eyes all seemed to still be in agony.

"Oh...God..." Was all that was said, whispered really, by a shocked Artemis.

They must've stood, staring, for a good five minutes before Kaldur took a shaky step forward.

"I think we should leave. It is unwise for us to stay here."

The rest of the team just nodded numbly, unable to tear their eyes away from the horror in front of them.

"Aw. Did we freak you out to much?"

The familiar voice of Scar echoed through the warehouse, shocking the team out of their stupor.

"We are not here to fight. We wish to just leave now." Aqualad told the killers waiting in the darkness.

"That's a shame." Blade's voice spoke, the sound of a knife scraping on another sounding through the building, setting the team's hair on end.

"Such a shame. ~Oh well, guess Shadow came all this way for nothing~" Scar's voice turned to a fake cheery, sing-song-y tone, punctuated with an over-exaggerated disappointed sigh.

"Shadow?" Superboy asked, unintentionally falling for the bait.

"Oh yes. He's ~here~ and he wanted to ~meet~ you!" Blades voice mimicked his friend's, the cheerfulness managing to make them both seem even more dangerous.

"We are not interested." '_We have what we came for. Let's go.'_

Aqualad turned, and was about to lead his team out when five black throwing stars fell from the ceiling and embedded themselves into the floor at each member of the team's feet.

"That's rude, and I thought you where supposed to be the polite one." The new voice came from everywhere, and the shadows in the room seemed to grow darker as it spoke.

Artemis' eyes widened. "Shadow." She breathed.

"Ooooh! Goody! Someone knows who I am!" This was followed by a cackle, similar to Robin's but far madder and less controlled. Robin's laugh promised trolling and bad guy butt-kick. Shadow's promised a horrible death and held a tint of slight madness.

The team stiffed. This was _the _Shadow. If they couldn't beat Scar and Blade even with Robin, then without him and against all three was as good as suicide.

"Hmm...Not very chatty are you? Oh well. Lets me do my villain monologue without interruption. Basically, stay away. Let us get on with our business and we'll let you get on with yours."

"I'm afraid we can't do that."

"Fair enough. Higher up orders, I get it. But, look around. _This _is what happens to people that get on our nerves. You've got a choice. Stay away and forget about us, or keep poking and end up like this.

"Choose wisely."

The light at the other end of the warehouse, that hadn't turned on with the rest, flickered on. Illuminating a large 'S' carved into the wall, a smaller 'B' and an 'S' with a line going through it diagonally, on either side.

They had been warned.

* * *

"Bruce. You need to stop doing this to me." Selina purred as she leaned on the back of his chair in front of the Bat-computer.

"Selina." Was all the man said, it was obvious to Selina that he was in _'Super Batman mode' _as Robin so fondly called it.

_Robin. _She felt kind of bad about handing him over to Scar, but really, the poor girl was only following her orders. And Selina knew, from the few times she'd managed to bring the subject up, that Blade and Shadow were really more like brothers to her than anything else. She seemed very protective of them, especially Shadow. Selina had an inkling that he was younger than her, which made her feel horrible. Poor Kid. If Batman was looking into them, then that meant that Scar would be worried about them being found, and probably being separated from her brothers.

"I heard from the girls that Robin was kidnapped?"

The effect was instant, Bruce's eyes immediately snapped away from the screen and focused on her face. The look was enough.

"Oh honestly. We _are_ the only female villains out there; we like to keep in touch. But, yes. I talked to Harley and Ivy earlier today."

The glare hardened.

"I don't know where they are, Harley called. Squealing about it loudly in my ear for half an hour."

The look changed into an accusing one.

"Why don't I do something about it? Oh goodness, Bruce, I love Dickie but Harley's been so _miserable_ lately. I'd much prefer she kidnapped him for a bit and was _happy _than having Ivy come and dump her at my place, just for her to start sobbing and laughing at people dying on TV."

The glare was back.

"Hmmm. I know, but really, I think you'll be surprised about what you find this time. This isn't an ordinary kidnapping."

Glare.

"What? Me? I don't know _anything..."_

* * *

**AN) How was it? Ah f*** I know I've been horrible to you guys, but I promise REGULAR UPDATES FROM NOW ON. YOU SHALL WAIT NO LONGER THAN 2 WEEKS! **

**There I put it down on..._paper? _The internet? I don't know...BUT! If I go over the deadline I give you guys permission to PM me angrily quoting the message above. **

**Until next time! :3**

**SWIA :D**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Sorry I'm a few days late on the update! My sister needed the computer for A ****level stuff on Sunday and yesterday it was MY BIRTHDAY! :D I got an I-pad Mini! Squeee! So happy! :3 Hopefully this'll mean my updates will be faster as I can now write whenever I want :)**

**Anyway! On with the Story! :D**

* * *

The alley was dark.

Rats scuttled out of the way of the dark, mud splattered boots belonging to a man smoking a cigarette.

The man's name was unknown, but that didn't mean what he was wasn't known.

A Two-Face thug.

One of the men who'd managed to escape a raid earlier that evening, killing two police officers in the process.

The thug took a big drag of his cigarette before dropping it and crushing it underfoot, putting the hand that had held it into his pocket.

The watcher's eyes narrowed, and muscles tensed, ready for the jump.

The thug didn't even hear it coming.

A soft thud and a quick slice to head had the thug on the floor, not even able to make a sound as the attacker tore the skin of his face off. Leaving a blank skull behind, much like the one on the attacker's mask.

A message written in blood and a carved signature was all the killer left behind, as in a swirl of dark blue cloth...

They were gone

* * *

Black Canary sighed as she sat back in her chair.

Another therapy session.

She wasn't angry about it, of course none of the team could help what they'd seen, but Dinah was seriously considering talking to Batman about the missions the team were being sent on.

She watched sadly as the team filed into the room, she'd decided that a group session would be best, as they'd all experienced the same thing it would be easier to do it all at once.

She waited as the teens took their seats, the two couples taking the separate sofas and Kaldur the armchair.

Megan was curled slightly into Conner and Artemis too was snuggling into her boyfriend, resting her head on his shoulder.

Kaldur's expression remained stoic but his weariness was displayed in the slight slump of his shoulders.e

Black Canary waited for them to get settled before speaking.

"I understand that what you saw was...not pleasant. And not something you should've had to seen. But, these things happen, and I know from experience that talking _helps._"

Dinah sat back and waited for one of the team to speak.

"_Why?_"

The question was so quiet, so full of _pain _and confusion that at first the speaker was wasn't identified. Once the word had sunk in, the team turned to Megan, watching the single tear slide down her face, as the girl curled up even more.

"Why would they _do _that?"

Black Canary sighed and rested her forearms on her knees, linking her fingers and looking up at the team.

"I don't know. Blade, Scar and Shadow are a mystery. We don't know who they are, or what made them do this. All we can do is try to move past this so we can do our job and stop them."

"Why is it our job to stop them? What happened to the police?"

Artemis sat up straight, crossing her arms and glaring.

"It's not our job. None of us were forced to do this. We chose this.

Every hero has a reason. Some are obvious, some others, not so much. Generally, people become heroes because they have powers. They see themselves as being able to take care of the dangerous criminals more efficiently and safely than the putting their life at risk rather than a whole squad of police officers.

Then there are those of us without powers, like Batman and Robin. Their motivation is simple, they don't want what happened to them to happen to anyone else. I'm not going to say what did happen. That's for Robin to tell you in his own time.

"We do what we do to help. Not because we were forced to, but because we want to. It's as simple as that."

Artemis nodded slowly, sinking back into Wally's hold.

"I can't change what you saw, but I can tell you that you can't let it get to you. You need to move on past this incident so that you can re-assume your posts as heroes."

Dinah looked around at the team, seeing the new determination in their eyes was good, but the haunted blankness remained.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Kaldur looked up, guilt brimming in his eyes, before looking back down.

"We had arrived at the coordinates that Batman gave us. We landed on the roof and made our way down to the door. I had Superboy scan the building with his thermal vision to determine how many people were inside."

At this point Superboy took over.

"I scanned the building like Kaldur told me to, the heat signatures were weird, all but three were to cold and there were things that were too small to be people but we giving off the same kind of reading. I only realised why once we were inside..."

Megan spoke next.

"I could feel the pain still hanging in the room, the emotions coming from people who were already dead." Another tear slid down her cheek.

"It was horrible.

"So much pain and hopelessness and fear... I had to block it all out... and then Shadow,Blade and Scar appeared... And it was so confusing! They were happy and felt good, but they'd just killed people! I didn't understand..."

Wally took his turn.

"Blade and Scar seemed really smug and Shadow just sounded _insane. _We should have just taken them out there...but... I couldn't have put up much of a fight in a place like that. I don't know about the others but I felt numb. Like all I could focus on was the blood...there was _so_ much of it..."

Unable to say anymore, Wally just buried his head in Artemis' hair and sighed.

"I've seen death before, but not like that... That was...Barbaric...So much worse than anything I'd seen with Dad..." Artemis sucked in a shaky breath and looked down, still ashamed of her parentage.

"Death is a part of life. As, sadly, is murder. We can't change what happened, but we can move past it. Once you all accept what you saw, you can begin to heal."

And finally, the team all straightened up and looked Dinah in the eye.

* * *

Batman dropped down into the alley without a sound, dark cape swishing round his ankles as he straightened up.

Moving forward to inspect the wall, he couldn't help flashing back to earlier that evening.

**_-Flashback!-Pretend there's harp music and the screen's waving!-Just pretend!-_**

_The Batsignal had been shining in the sky at 10:00 on the dot. He'd grappled over to the roof where, as expected, Commissioner Gordon stood with a couple of policemen, waiting. _

_"Batman, earlier today we conducted a raid on one of Two-Face's hideouts. A large number of men were there and although we managed to apprehend most of them, a few escaped after killing two of my men. Earlier this evening, one of my men was shadowing one of the suspected escapees, upon following him into an alley he found the man dead."_

_Batman's face remained stoic, the only reason Gordon would've called him about this was if the murder was strange. _

_"The man was lying on his back, killed by a sharp cut to the back of the neck, but all the skin of his face had been ripped off. A message written in the victim's blood on the alley wall was discovered, and sighed by a small carving. We hoped you could help us find the killer."_

_Batman nodded once, "I'll need to see the body."_

_The morgue was starch white, bleached corridors identical to one another led through to the place where the corpse was being kept. As soon as he entered Batman was already by the body, leaning over to examine it closely._

6.1ft, late 20's approx. in age. Evidence of fighting on hands and clothes, older than the murder though. No signs of struggle, a quick death. Tobacco under finder nails and yellow teeth; heavy smoker. All skin on the face has been ripped off cleanly, professional job. Cut on back of neck, cause of death. The cut slopes, curved weapon. Position suggests a large weapon.

_"Well?" The commissioner stood, looking expectantly at the dark knight._

_"The skin off the face has been ripped cleanly. This was a professional job. The cut on the back of the neck caused death, and the angle of the incision suggests a curved blade, and distance. The killer was about a metre from the target when he killed him."_

_"Do you know who it might be?" _

_"I have an idea, but I'll need to see the alley to be sure."_

_**-End of Flashback!-Pretend there's more harp music and the screen's waving again!-Just pretend!-**_

And that was how he got here, looking about the area for any clues the police might've missed. The area where the body had been had been marked with white tape and rolls of police tape stopped people from walking into the crime scene.

Batman turned away from that and looked at the message.

Even strokes with the blood showed that the killer had written it with his finger before quickly carving their symbol into the wall with whatever weapon they had used.

The message's content was more important though. Obviously aimed at a specific person, the message provided a challenge.

One that asked for more blood.

* * *

Shadow, Blade and Scar wore identical grins as thy surveyed the scene below them.

The alley

The body

The message

"This'll be fun."

"No interfering, Blade. This is Shadow's thing."

The message on the wall was meant for Shadow.

'_Tag, You're it.'_

_S_igned with a crudely carved 'G' and practically oozing cocky-ness.

"Game on, bro. _Game on._"

* * *

**AN) Quite a long chapter, huh? I wrote most of this on my new Mini I-pad (still can't get over it :D) so sorry if there are any mistakes, the keys on the wireless keyboard that goes with it are TITCHY! And it's a bit hard to adjust, I'm getting there! But bear with any little mistakes. They really are just little keys.  
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**As Always REVIEW! I love to hear what you guys think! :D And now that I got the mail working on the I-pad, every time you guys review it'll make a typewriter noise :3 Is that not incentive enough?!**

**AND! Any guesses on who 'G' is? I think it's kind of obvious but it's my story so I already know :3 **

**Until next time! :D**

**SWIA **


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